Recent scientific research has shown the benefits of weight training for overall health and fitness. Although weight training was once practiced exclusively by athletes and bodybuilders, the exercise has become a popular activity for many people seeking improved health and fitness. In addition to improving performance for competitive athletes, weight training provides many benefits for ordinary people, including reducing body fat, increasing muscle mass, strengthening joints and bones, and improving health.
The bench press is an example of a popular and effective weightlifting exercises. The bench press is a compound exercise that works out multiple muscle groups in the upper body including the pectorals, deltoids, and triceps. These exercises are particularly useful for building muscle mass and strength in the upper body. Additionally, there are other exercises that specifically target the upper body including, but not limited to, the chest fly, the pushup, the pull-up, the shoulder press, etc.
Despite the many benefits of weight training, exercise can cause serious athletic injury if performed incorrectly. Injury is especially common among beginners who may not have proper technique or may have not developed enough strength. Overtraining, repetitive stress, and improper positioning may also cause significant injury. Such injuries may occur while exercising both with free weights or with specialized exercise machines. The risk of injury creates a difficult dilemma for beginner weightlifters needing to develop strength to avoid injury yet limited from excessive train for fear of being injured. With the upper body exercises particularly, injury to the shoulder is prevalent because the shoulder muscles are relatively weak in comparison to the chest muscles. Common injuries include tears in the front deltoid, tears in the chest muscle, and dislocation of the shoulder joint.
Many attempts have been made to reduce the risk of injury while weight training. Exercisers will often wrap adhesive tape around shoulders and other joints in order to provide additional support to the joints and muscles. Although this method is effective in preventing injury, another person is usually needed to apply the tape as it is extremely difficult to adequately tape oneself. Additionally, the tape wraps are difficult to adjust or remove once applied and are generally not reusable once removed.
Moreover, there are many examples in the prior art of garments designed to protect the wearer from external injuries, e.g., injuries caused by free weights being dropped on the wearer. These garments do not, however, address the internal types of injuries that a wearer may incur by overtraining or improper lifting, etc.
Recently, competitive weightlifters have popularized the use of specialized “bench press shirts”. These shirts are usually made out of strong material such as denim or stiff polyester and fit tightly around the wearer. Because these shirts need to be tight, they are usually very difficult to put on or take off and are extremely uncomfortable. Thus, specialized bench press shirts are normally favored only among elite weightlifters looking for an extra competitive edge. Because bench press shirts are produced in fixed sizes, the shirts cannot be customizably adjusted to each individual person's unique body shape and/or physique. Moreover, a person's physique may change as the person's muscles develop as a result of training. Furthermore, injuries or stresses may make it desirable to provide different amounts of support to different areas of the body. A bench press shirt is unable to be adjusted to account for these changes and differences.
Therefore, there exists a need for a reusable, low-cost workout garment that is customizably adjustable to accommodate different body sizes.